pop art

Wishing Andy Warhol a posthumous “Happy Birthday” on the evening of a lovely summer’s day. The artist would be 85 today; I wonder what he would think about our society and the present celebrity culture that he helped to elevate through his work. This is one of my favorite photographs of Warhol, and I hope someday to frame it and stick it on my wall. Cause Andy, you’re a star.

There is so much visually stimulating and emotionally fraught goodness in the original Valley of the Dolls movie that I hardly know where to begin. For those unfamiliar with the ’60s film, based on a best-selling book by Jacqueline Susann, it tracks the downfall of three young women whose lives revolve around cinema, the stage, relationships, and stardom. I’ve determined the three superlative aspects that truly define the film are style, scene, and sensation.

The atmosphere/mood, environments, and costume choices were all sources of inspiration for me. The clothes and interiors are timeless, simultaneously serving as a souvenir of the era, while the cinematography turned certain segments into pure art. It’s impossible to isolate scene from style or style from sensation, since they’re all interwoven to paint a portrayal of imperfection, self-destruction, and ostentatiousness. Because of this, I snapped every still I could to impart the perfection that this movie encapsulates.